What do I want? I want the pizza. Because that is what I want right now, and it is delicious and an easy choice. That's my 'now' perspective.
A better way is probably to consider my future perspective of 20 years from now. As in, what do I wish I had been eating 20 years ago?
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Strobist
Perspective…it is a central component of photography, although it’s one that you probably don’t actively consider when composing a shot. For our purposes, perspective can be described as the dimensions of objects within a scene and the measurements between them as they correspond to the viewpoint of the camera. This simply means how things appear in a composition from the camera’s point of view. Continue Reading
The post How to Change your Photography by Simply Changing your Perspective appeared first on Photodoto.
In earlier articles I gave you advice about planning a portrait shoot and some reasons for using natural light. Now it’s time to take a look at something that many photographers find difficult – posing.
The reason posing can create problems is because inexperienced models will look to you for direction. If your model is waiting for you to tell her what to do and you freeze up or don’t have any decent ideas you will struggle to create good photos. It’s up to you to take charge and tell the model how to pose. The key is preparation – you need a set of poses you can suggest to the model.
Here are some points to think about before the shoot:
What kind of shoot is it? The posing requirements for a family portrait are very different than a fashion shoot. You can think about posing once you’ve decided what type of photo you are going to create.
Look for inspiration online. Chances are you have a few favourite photographers you follow on websites like Flickr and 500px. You will find some good poses in their portfolios. Download your favourites to your smartphone (or use Pinterest to create a mood board, covered in more detail in my article How to Plan the Perfect Portrait Shoot). Then you have something you can show to your model. Don’t try and commit the poses to memory – you will forget them under pressure.
Match the pose to your model. This is important. You’ll see some wonderful poses in fashion magazines. But many of them need a professional model to carry them off. Your model may not be able to do that, especially if she has a different body type than the people in the magazine.
Buy the Posing App. It gives you over 300 poses that you can access on your smartphone. The best way to use it is to select five to ten and make them your favourites. Then you can show them to your model so she understands the what you’d like her to do.
Screen shots from the Posing App. The line drawings are easy to understand and follow.
The author of the app has written several articles about posing for Digital Photography School you will find useful (click the link to see a list).
No matter how experienced or inexperienced your model is, here are some tips to help you find the perfect pose during the shoot:
Build rapport. This is essential. If your model likes you and sees what you are trying to achieve she will work harder. If you talk to her about things she likes you will see more life in her eyes and get better expressions, including natural smiles. She will be more relaxed. If your model is tense, you are going to struggle to get natural looking portraits. Take the pressure off her and bring it back on yourself. Assure her that if the photos don’t work out that it’s your fault, not hers. Build her confidence.
Look for natural expression. As you talk to your model you will notice natural expressions and mannerisms that you can use. Don’t be afraid to say “hold that pose” or “do what you did just now again”.
I noticed the model had a interesting mannerism so I asked her to repeat the gesture. This portrait is one of her favourites
Adapt poses. When you suggest a pose, such as one used in another photo or from the Posing App, treat it as a starting point, then adapt it to suit your model. If she looks unnatural in a certain pose, then adapt it so it suits her body and the clothes she’s wearing.
The pose on the left is one I found in the Posing App. For the second portrait I asked my model to drop her left arm so I couldn’t see it. Don’t be afraid to tweak poses, sometimes a small change makes a big difference.
Simplify. Keep everything as simple as possible. That applies to composition and the clothes and jewellery worn by your model. If she has too much jewellery on, ask her to remove some. It will improve the composition. If you’re struggling to find a good full-length pose, move in closer and shoot from the waist up, or do a head and shoulders portrait. The background will go more out of focus, and there will be less of the model in the photo.
Simplification in action. The closer you crop, the easier it is to pose your model. This is a good technique to use if you are struggling to make a certain pose work.
Pay attention to detail. Especially hands, which often look better side on to the camera. Look at photos where the model’s hands look elegant or are otherwise well posed, and ask your model to do the same. Check her hair to make sure stray strands aren’t blowing across her face or eyes. Look at her clothes to make sure they aren’t wrinkled or creased in a strange way.
Find something for your model to lean on. This makes it much easier to find a natural looking pose.
Two different ways to use a wall to give a model something to do. The Posing App has lots of poses for leaning.
Use props. If the model has something to hold or otherwise interact with, it gives her something to do. If she is having fun you’re more likely to get a great expression.
The model in this photo is into hooping. Using the hoop as a prop gave her something to hold and added interest to the portrait.
I suggested the model bring her horses along to the shoot. The horses are a natural prop and her interaction with them led to photos like this one.
Do you have any tips for our readers about posing models? What has worked for you? Tell us about your experiences in the comments.
The Natural Portrait
My ebook The Natural Portrait teaches you how to take beautiful portraits in natural light. This 240 page ebook, published by Craft & Vision, takes you through the entire process of natural light portrait photography through from finding a model, deciding where to shoot, working with natural light and post-processing your images. Click the link to learn more or buy.
The post Beginner Tips for Posing People with Confidence by Andrew S. Gibson appeared first on Digital Photography School.
Dreaming by Ondrej Pakan on 500px
Macro photography has become really popular lately and there are many tutorials available on how to do it, including these on dPS:
But let’s talk a little about the gear needed to do macro photography. Here’s a couple video that walk through some of the options to help you get started. In this video from Tamron see: How-To Macro Photography: Equipment, Lighting Tips and More
In this second video by Anthony Morganti you can learn: What You Need To Get Started In Macro Photography
rate my bike by tustel ico on 500px
By Jagadeesh SJ
By Alexey Kljatov
By Julien REBOULET
The post Equipment for Macro Photography – Video Tips by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
The Smoothest Dude Alive, Daniel Krieger.
My good friend Daniel Krieger (aka smoothdude), along with MacPhun’s Laurie Rubin, and I will host a live G+ hangout this morning talking about ways to promote your photography through social media. We’ll record the episode to my youtube account as well in case you can’t make it live and want to watch later.
Come join the show here if you can make it.
Try to make your HDR images look as realistic as possible
If you have been photographing for more than a year or two, you will have heard about HDR (which stands for High Dynamic Range). We have probably seen them, the “overcooked”, over processed HDR images that float around the photo websites. For some photographers, the process seems to force them to overdo their images and after a while that seems to be the only result they are trying to achieve. Do a Google search on “bad HDR” and you will see what I mean. The images have halos, the colours are surreal and look metallic, the contrast is off and in short, the image is really messy.
When I first shot HDR, I fell into this trap too. These results caused many photographers to say that HDR is not a useful technique and is really gimmicky. That perception is partly true. HDR in the hands of someone who cannot use it effectively can result in some weird looking images, however, HDR done properly can produce some incredible results. To see some good examples of HDR done properly, visit the website HDR Spotting and take a look at the editors picks. There are some astounding images there. The colours are amazing, the contrast is perfect and the detail in the shadows and highlights, sublime. That is what HDR should be. It should be the best combination of the highlights and the shadows properly exposed, the image should look as real as it can. So, how do you get this right you might be asking, read on to find out.
As I said earlier, HDR stands for High Dynamic Range. Your cameras sensor has the ability to capture light and colour. The extent to which your camera can do this is called the dynamic range. More specifically, if your camera can render lots of details in the shadows and the highlights in the same shot, then it has a high dynamic range. Over the past few years, digital sensors have become so much better at capturing more detail. This is a huge benefit for photographers and of course for HDR photography. This means that we can get more details out of every image and as a result, the HDR images will be that much more detailed.
Lions Gate Bridge Vancouver – HDR image
Making an HDR image involves 3 distinct and separate processes. I will go into detail on each one, but at a high level, they are as follows:
Lets start with image capture first. This is the photography part of this process. It’s pretty simple really. Set up for your shot as you normally would. Make sure you have your subject well composed and you are ready to go. The difference between HDR and normal photography, is that with HDR you will take either three to five bracketed images of the same scene. The reason for the number of images is that you will blend these images together in a dedicated HDR product.
My recommendation for HDR software is Photomatix Pro. It is a programme that has been around for many years now and has some really good editing functions. It’s probably the most widely used software when it comes to HDR. Photoshop also has an HDR function, but in my opinion, its not as refined as the Photomatix Pro yet. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge Photoshop fan, it is an incredible tool, I am sure that Photoshop will have something within their functions that will be competitive in time, but for now, I still use Photomatix.
These are the steps I follow when I intend to do an HDR shot. They are not rules, nor are they inflexible, they just work for me. You need to find what works for you and gives you the best results, this method has helped me get my best results, so try it out. Tweak it and change it as you need.
This will result in five images being captured.
Below are the three images I used in making the HDR image you see above. Take a look at how the colours and exposure don’t look good at all.
3 Different exposures for the HDR image above
Some photographers use five shots for their HDR shots, some use seven or up to nine. I have found that three to five shots seem to work best for most scenes. I have only used nice shots on a few occasions, but have not been happy with the results. The colours seem to be “muddy” and unclear once processed. If necessary, shoot seven images and see how that works.
Once you have completed the shoot, download the images to your computer. It is important NOT to edit the images before blending them into an HDR image. Some of the shots might look over exposed or under exposed, thats OK, in fact they must look like that. The software will deal with these issues, so don’t be concerned that the images look bad out of camera, they need to be processed and then the magic begins.
Click “Load Bracketed Photos”
I will be explaining the Photomatix software in this article. I have tried HDR with each new version of Photoshop and I am still happier with the results I get from Photomatix Pro. You can download a trial version of Photomatix from their website. It is fully functional, the only thing is that the trial version puts a watermark on the image. This is OK for trying it out, you will see exactly what the software can do, if you think it is worth it, then you can buy it. Ok, so here is how you take your images into Photomatix Pro
Select the options displayed on the screen above
Preprocessing options are available. Make selections on the box as shown in the screenshot above. Then click preprocess and Photomatix Pro will begin to tone map the images into a composite 32-bit image. This process is generally quite quick, between 30 seconds and a minute. Once complete, click on the Tone Mapping button.
Use the “Remove ghosts” function if you have people or moving objects in your images. If you don’t have this, then you wont need to use this function.
On this screen, you are able to select a variety adjustments that will create an overall change to the image. There are no absolutes here. Each adjustment makes minor or major differences to the image and the combination of the adjustments provides diverse options.
At the bottom of the screen you will see different “treatments” (or presets) which you can use as a starting point to your image editing process. I would avoid using these as they are generally overdone. Try and use the functions on the left hand side to edit your image.
Below are the details about each function on the left hand side of the screen and what each does. One of the best ways to see what a function does is to slide it all the way over to the left and then to the right and see how it affects your image, but here are the details:
Once this part of the process is finished, then it is time to take the image into Photoshop. Save the tone mapped image and then re-open it in Photoshop.
This is a very basic workflow. It will enhance the lighting and tonality in your images. These techniques are discussed here at high level.
Photoshop has a function called Shadows and Highlights. Use this tool to bring out detail in the shadows of your image. Use it carefully, if you overdo the treatment on the shadows, there may be some unsightly image degradation or “noise”. This function is not great for adjusting highlights, so use it for the shadows only. This tool is found in Photoshop as follows: IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > SHADOWS AND HIGHLIGHTS. The adjustments of AMOUNT, TONAL WIDTH and RADIUS should all be kept aligned close to one another to ensure that the adjustment looks realistic.
Shadow and Highlights function in Photoshop
The levels function in Photoshop is for adjusting the lighting in an image. This means that if your image is a little dark you can push up the exposure slightly and see more details in the image. The levels function shows a representation of a histogram. Move the sliders in to touch the edge of the histogram as a general rule. This will ensure that your image has a good representation of highlights and shadows.
The Levels functioning Photoshop
Once the exposure and lighting has been adjusted and looks correct, then you may begin adjusting the colour in the image. The tool to use will be the Hue and Saturation tool. The important tip here is not to adjust the master channel but rather to adjust by each channel independently. To do this, click on the top toggle button that says “default”. A drop down menu will appear and each colour channel will be available from there. Slide the Saturation Slider to the left to desaturate (remove colour) or to the right to saturate. That way you have the best control of the colour in your image.
Hue and Saturation Function in Photoshop
These functions are localized adjustments. By using a brush tool, you are able to make certain areas of the image darker and other areas of the image lighter. This is useful for adding the finishing touches to your image. There is also the sponge function which is a saturation tool which can saturate colours at a local level.
Almost every image that comes out of a digital camera requires sharpening of some sort. The easiest and quickest tool to use is the Unsharp Mask tool and it works effectively.
Unsharp Mask Tool in Photoshop
The Unsharp Mask has three separate sliders: Amount, Radius and Threshold. As a general rule you can keep the Amount anywhere between 80 and 120%, Radius can be set between 1.0 and 3.0 pixels and Threshold is generally at zero. Adjust the sharpness of the image according to each image requirement and beware of degrading the image by over sharpening. You will easily notice if an image is over sharpened by the appearance of a “halo” around certain edges in the image. The idea is to sharpen the image but not make it overly sharp and lose image quality.
Once you are done, save your image and thats it! Have a go, try different settings in different light, let me know what you think and how your images turn out. If you have any questions, drop them into the comments box below.
Please leave your comments and questions below. If you want more HDR tips, try some of these articles:
The post Getting Real with HDR – a Step by Step Tutorial for Realistic Looking HDR by Barry J Brady appeared first on Digital Photography School.
This week I want to get you thinking outside the box, and looking at ordinary things differently. Earlier in the week James Maher wrote How to do Great Photography Even When Your Surroundings are Boring so continuing on that path is some abstract photography which is a great way to photograph around home to create something different.
So here are a few abstract photos to give you some ideas and inspiration
Color Explosion 1 by Margaret Morgan on 500px
Abstract Red & Blue by Miki Asai on 500px
layered ripples by Mazin Alrasheed Alzain on 500px
Watercolours by Whatshisname on 500px
Rang Barse by Rahul Tripathi on 500px
Jumping Colors by Markus Reugels on 500px
Hidden Sapphire by Ganjar Rahayu on 500px
Fushimi Inari Shrine by César Asensio Marco on 500px
Paper by Peter Simonides on 500px
Pale love story by Shihya Kowatari on 500px
Abstract. by Santopietro Ciro on 500px
Apart … by Ahmed Abdulazim on 500px
Soap Film by Markus Reugels on 500px
Untitled by Xavier Solé Guimerà on 500px
Cøøking Art by Silver Paul on 500px
C6J7799 Abstract Wave #3 by David Orias on 500px
Bokehlism by Suradej Chuephanich on 500px
Garden Bubble by Ricardo Alves on 500px
Black Hole Abstract by Alan Borror on 500px
Abstract by Samir Salim on 500px
Shells by Jared Lim on 500px
Painting with light by Mike Pearce on 500px
Hola {CERO} by Uxio on 500px
Painted Water … by Ewa Frye on 500px
Reflection by Yonko Dikov on 500px
Whirl by Shihya Kowatari on 500px
70/365 Fork((((s)))) by Mark DeCamp on 500px
A Singular One by Eleonora Di Primo on 500px
Curved Bench by Peter Crock on 500px
shadow of the stairs by Roberto Serra on 500px
Where shadows go by Olga Bekker on 500px
Moden Camping by Toby Harriman on 500px
Shadow play by Guru Nandha on 500px
green tsunami by Wael Massalkhi on 500px
Warp:tree by Fahad Abdulhameed on 500px
Like a mica by kazumi Ishikawa on 500px
50 days 50 shots – File 17 by Carlos Silva "Avlisilva" on 500px
The post Abstract Photos to Inspire You by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
Earlier I shared some inspiring abstract photos to help get you motivated and give you some ideas for this week’s photography challenge:
By Dagny Mol
1ab·stract adjective \ab-?strakt, ?ab-?\
Basically what that means if you’ve never done any abstract photography is shoot your subject in a way that it is either somewhat or totally unrecognizable. Concentrate on shapes, colors, and form and less on the thing in the photo. Shooting for abstract is a great exercise to help you train your eye to see “photographically” and get more creative.
So if you tend towards technically perfect images, it’s time to get outside your comfort zone and do something different. Make ones that are out of focus blobs of bokeh, under or overexposed, shadows, reflections, zoomed images, focused on patterns, macro photography or close-ups, and other crazy ideas. The whole idea here it to play around and see what you get. The key phrase for this challenge is:
What if I . . . ?
Need some more ideas? Here are a few images to get you started.
By Riccardo Cuppini
By @Doug88888
By Kevin Dooley
By @Doug88888
By @Doug88888
By Hector Lazo
By Tony Hall
By Geraint Rowland
By Claudio.Ar
Simply upload your shot into the comment field (look for the little camera icon in the Disqus comments section as pictured below) and they’ll get embedded for us all to see or if you’d prefer upload them to your favourite photo sharing site and leave the link to them.
The post Weekly Photography Challenge – Abstract Photography by Darlene Hildebrandt appeared first on Digital Photography School.
Behance is an awesome place to find creative photography portfolios and to draw inspiration from. But with so many of them to browse through, it’s really hard to find a place to start. That’s why I’ve collected 20 awe-inspiring photographers to follow on Behance. Here you’ll find fabulous fashion photography and breathtaking landscape shots. Scroll down to enjoy these brilliant Continue Reading
The post 20 Awe-Inspiring Photographers to Follow on Behance appeared first on Photodoto.
Montauk Point, NY. EOS 5D Mark II with EF 17-40 f/4L. 15 seconds at f/11, ISO 800.
There is a period of time each day, just before sunrise and just after sunset, when the sun is below the horizon, when the light is known as “sweet light.” This period of time is known as “The Blue Hour.” This is a period of time each morning and evening when there is neither full daylight, nor full darkness. The light is almost ethereal, with a soft blue glow bathing the scene. The Blue Hour happens in tandem with the Golden Hour, making the beginning and end of the day exceptional for photography, providing two very different types of light within a single time span.
The Blue Hour is a prime time for landscape photography. Subjects that have their own lighting, such as city buildings or lighthouses, tend to look especially good, as the yellow glow of their lights cuts through the blue. A tripod will be necessary to capture these scenes, unless you’re willing to raise your ISO to the point you can hand hold your exposures. Setting a proper white balance is one of the keys to Blue Hour photography. When set to AWB (auto white balance), the camera will try to correct for the blue tone the light has, which can result in flattening your image. If you shoot RAW, you can correct for this in pos- processing, to get just the right white balance for your taste. If you’re a JPEG shooter, you may want to try setting a custom white balance, or you can use your camera’s Live View setting to preview what different white balance settings will do to the scene.
Boston’s Zakim Bridge. EOS-1D Mark III with EF 24-105 f/4L IS. 30 seconds, f/11, ISO 100.
I prefer the time during the Blue Hour when the sun is close enough to the horizon that there is a soft orange glow along the horizon. This adds an extra quality to the image, especially when you consider that orange is blue’s complementary color. You may want to bracket your exposures, as this will vary the intensity of any light in the image, be it the orange glow remaining from the sun, or artificial lighting on buildings. Blending exposures for HDR images may not be necessary, but it will be possible if you use a tripod and decide to try some HDR.
Cannon Beach, Oregon. EOS 5D Mark III with EF 24-70 f/2.8L II. !20 seconds, f/11, ISO 640.
The window of opportunity for Blue Hour shooting is small, and probably much shorter than during the Golden Hour. You’ll want to be at your spot ready to go well in advance of the Blue Hour. To plan your time, you can visit The Blue Hour Site to find out when the Blue Hour starts and ends at your location. If you don’t have access to the internet, a good rule of thumb is that the Blue Hour starts about 15 minutes after sunset, and ends around an hour after sunset. For sunrise, it will start roughly an hour before sunrise and end 15 minutes before sunrise. When I plan to shoot landscapes, be it at sunrise or sunset, I always plan to shoot both the Golden Hour and the Blue Hour. I tend to get a lot of variety due to the change in light, and it makes the time spent that much more worthwhile.
Pemaquid Point, Maine. EOS 5D Mark II with TS-E 17mm f/4L. 8 seconds, f/11, ISO 400.
Boston Skyline. EOS 5D Mark II with EF 24-105 f/4L IS. 1 second, f/11, ISO 100.
Cape Neddick, Maine. EOS-1D Mark III with EF 17-40 f/4L. 0.4 seconds, f/8, ISO 400.
Please share your Blue Hour photos and comments below.
The post Sweeten Your Photos by Shooting During the Blue Hour by Rick Berk appeared first on Digital Photography School.
